Molding electric wire conduit and alug cutlet



MOLDING ELECTRIC WIRE CONDUIT AND PLUG OUTLET Filed May 22, 1931 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Enw 71 026072,

ATTORNEY June 13, 1933. w so 1,914,317

MOLDING ELECTRIC WIRE CONDUIT AND PLUG OUTLET Filed May 22, 1931 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Eric Wilon,

amai

ATTORNEY Patented dune 3.3, 1933 Application filed May This inventionrelates to electric wiring conduits and outlet plugs and has for theprimary object, the provision of a device especially adapted forproviding an effective protection against fire hazards by enclosing orconcealing the electric wires and their connectors and which may beeasily and quickly installed and will have an attractive and finishedappearance to itself and to the room to which it is applied.

Another object of this invention is the provision of conduits and outletplugs which may be manufactured and sold at a comparatively low cost andwhich may be installed in a very short period of time and will provide amolding between the floor and wall of a building that will harmonizetherewith and will eliminate or take the place of the present moldingnow employed.

With these and other objects in View, thls invention consists in certainnovel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts tobe hereinafter more fully described and claimed. For a completeunderstanding of my invention, reference is to be had to the followingdescription and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a frontelevation illustrating electric wire conduits and an outlet plugassociated with the floor and wall of a building and constructed inaccordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a top plan view illustrating the same.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 ofFigure 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional View taken on the line 5-5-of Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a perspective View illustrating one section of the conduitseparated from the box of the outlet plug and the rear wall of the boxseparated from the latter.

Figure 7 is a perspective view illustrating the sections of the moldingconnected together.

Figure 8 is a perspective view illustrating i931. Seriai $1"? the clampfor connecting the sections of the molding.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates the wall ofa building and 2 the floor with my invention applied and forming afinished molding at the corner between the wall and the floor with theoutlet plug positioned that an electric appliance may be easily pluggedtherein.

My invention includes a casing 3 having a removably rear wall 4 and acircular opening 5 in the front wall thereof and theend walls 6 are cutaway to form entrances. 7 having arcuately curved flanges 8, the ends ofwhich are bent angularly to form gripping fingers 9. The entrances 9 areadapted to receive the ends of conduits 10 that are of substantiallytriangular shape in cross section, The conduits each includes a bottomwall 11, a rear Wall 12, and a front Wall 13. The bottom and rear walls11 and 12 are disposed at right angles to each other while the frontwall 13 is arcuately curved to give the conduit the appearance ofmolding. The conduit or the walls thereof are formed from a single pieceof material bent first to form the bottom and rear walls 11 and 12 andthen bent to form the front wall 13. By referring to Figure 6 it will benoted that the material between the front wall 13 and the bottom wall 11is bent upon itself to form a flange 14 while the free edge of thematerial after forming the front wall is bent angularly to extendparallel with the rear wall 12 forming a flange 15.

The conduit when inserted within one of the entrances of the casing 3,the arcuate shaped flange 8 will engage the curved front wall 13 withthe fingers 9 snapping over the flanges 14 and 15 thus firmly securingthe conduit to the casing. The conduits are adapted to be constructedfrom metal or any other material suitable for the purpose and have theelectric conductors or feed wires 16 extending therethrough and into thecasing 3 for attachment to the connecting plates 17 mounted in aninsulating block 18. The plates 17 and the connection of the wiresthereto are separated by an insulating spacing element 19 forming anintegral part of the block 18 and by referring to Figure 3 it will benoted that the rear face of the block 18 is provided with recesses 20 inwhich the plates 17 and their connection with the electrical feed wiresare located. Passages 21 extending from the recesses 20 through theouter face of the block 18, a portion of which projects from thecircular opening 5 in the front wall of the casing and the pasages 21have resilient contact elements 22 located therein and forming anintegral part of the plates 17 so that an electrical appliance havingthe usual type of block may have the contacts thereof inserted in thepassages 21 to engage the contact fingers 22 and thereby establish anelectrical connection between the electrical appliance and the feedwires.

An insulating plate 23 engages the rear face of the block 18 and closesthe recess 20 and has the rear wall 4 positioned thereagainst. Fasteners24 in the form of screws pass through the front wall of the casing,block 18, insulating plate 23 and rear wall 4 of the casing and areadapted to be threaded into the wall 1 of the building thereby firmlyanchoring the casing 3 to the buildlng and also the conduits leadingfrom said casing. An ornamental plate 25 may be positioned over thefront wall of the casing 3 and held thereon by the fasteners 24extending therethrough. The ornamental plate 25 has an opening aligningwith the opening 15 to permit a portion of the block 18 to extendtherethrough to expose the passages 21. so that an ordinary electricplug or the contacts thereof may be inserted into the passages forengagement with the contact fingers 22.

The molding may be secured to the floor and wall of the building byheaded fasteners 26 engaging over the flanges 14 and 15. The conduitsmay be manufactured in sections as shown in Figure 7 and the sectionsjoined together by a substantially L-shaped clip 27 the ends of whichare bent to form retalning flanges 28 adapted to receive the flanges 14and 15 of adjacent sections of the conduit.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, it will be noted that a. device has been provided which can beeasily and efiiciently installed between the floor and wall of abuilding that will permit an outlet plug or box to be located any placedesired within the room and that the electric feed wires and theirconnections will be entirely housed to reduce fire hazards and alsorelieve the wires of undue wear. Further it will be noted that thedevice is efliciently anchored to the building against accidentaldisplacement and which anchorage is of a nature that will permit theinstallation of the device in a very short period of time. A device ofthe foregoing character can be manufactured and installed at a verynominal cost and will permit a person at a reasonable expense to haveany number of outlet plugs or boxes within a building or room thereofand obviates the customary practice of securing exposed extension cordsabout the baseboards of a room. The conduits when installed may bepainted to harmonize with the room and will eliminate the ordinarymolding now placed between or within the corner of the floor and thewall.

Vhile I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that minor changes in construction,combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of my invention, as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

A device of the character set forth comprising a casing having a fullyopened rear portion adapted to be positioned next to a wall, said casinghaving an opening in the front wall thereof with the side walls of thecasing cut away to receive the ends of adjacent conduits, flanges on theside walls of the casing and having offset ends adapted to grip oppositeedges of the conduits to prevent displacement of the conduits relativeto the side walls of the casing, a rear plate for closing the casing,and fasteners extending through the front wall of the casin to supportan electric fixture within the casing and in alignment with the openingof the front wall, said fasteners extending through the rear plate intothe wall.

- In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ERIC WILSON.

